voyage of the damned: the way it should have been
by ruatcaelum
Summary: 'Come on, then! Where do you want to go first'
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or any associated characters, I just love them to death.

Summary: This is set just after VOD, but ASTRID HASNT DIED! Just after Mr Copper runs off. Eventual Doctor/Astrid. What would have happened if Astrid had joined?

--

Chapter One

'Merry Christmas Mr Copper,' Astrid's soft voice laughed as the happy man went skipping off into the snow, and the Doctor beamed down at her, arms folded as he leaned next to her against the TARDIS. Astrid turned to face the Doctor and returned his grin, bouncing up and down as she turned to face him.

'Thank you for letting me come with you, Doctor,' She said, failing quite magnificently to hide her excitement, and the Doctor grinned back.

'My pleasure, Miss Peth,' He said, before turning to face the door.

'So, you wanna… look inside?' He asked, and Astrid stared at him then the TARDIS with curiosity.

'Seriously?' She practically squeaked, her Australian accent making the word sound accented, different. But good different, the Doctor thought to himself. 'I mean, what does it look like?' She asked, and the Doctor winked at her.

'It's bigger on the inside,' He said mysteriously before opening the door, slipping the key into the lock and pushing the door open. Astrid stepped one foot inside as the Doctor waited outside, and gasped.

'Oh my…' She breathed before promptly stepping out again, staring at the small box in fascination. 'Wow.' She said before laughing. 'That is incredible!' She turned to face the Doctor again, giggling excitedly.

'Come on, then! Where do you want to go first?' He asked, and she paused for a second, staring into the distance as she contemplated this, before answering.

'I don't know,' She answered truthfully, and the Doctor nodded.

'That's a start then, thanks,' He said, and Astrid blushed and looked away. 'Let's go inside at least,' He said, before stepping back to allow her to pass fully into the TARDIS, and Astrid quickly ran in, her large boots clicking loudly on the metallic flooring of the TARDIS which was otherwise silent except for the gentle hum of the large, majestic control panel. 'It's so beautiful,' She whispered as she re-entered the control room, and when she turned to face the Doctor as he entered, he could see the tears glistening in her deep blue eyes, and he smiled softly.

'You're welcome,' He said quietly, and Astrid ran forward to wrap her arms around him, reaching up on tiptoes to do so. The Doctor hugged her back, wrapping his strong arms around her small body, and he smiled to himself. This was one good companion choice.

'So, where are we going?' She asked, pulling back and quickly wiping her face before running to sit in the seat next to the control panel, staring up at the large column receding into the ceiling in awe. 'What does it do?' She asked, and the Doctor grinned, slowly walking over to join her with his hands deep in his pockets.

'It's… complicated. But it's the part that… well, the part that moves the TARDIS,' He said, staring up at it and frowning slightly.

'The what?' She asked, staring up at him innocently.

'Hmm?' He asked, breaking his gaze away from his time machine to stare at her. 'Oh, TARDIS, that's the name of this beauty,' He leant against the control panel affectionately, and Astrid nodded. 'TARDIS- time and relative dimension in space,' He finished, and Astrid looked impressed, reaching up to brush some blonde hair from her face.

'Wow, a time machine,' She said, and the Doctor grinned again. 'That's… wow!' She laughed, grinning widely and leaning forward in the seat.

'Well then, now that we've all been introduced, hows about we go somewhere?' He flashed a smile at her before flicking a switch and Astrid looked around in amazement as the TARDIS started to shake and the large column thrummed, glowing brightly.

'Lucky I don't get sea-sick, eh?' She muttered as the machine started to wobble, threatening to throw her from her seat as it spun through time and space to a new destination.

The Doctor swiftly ran over to the doors once the TARDIS had stopped moving and looked back at Astrid as she sat apprehensively on the edge of the seat, staring at him with wide eyes.

'You coming?' He asked, and Astrid grinned and got up.

'A new sky,' She breathed as she joined him by the door.

'Your second in the last… ooh, three hours?' He said and Astrid shrugged, still grinning.

'Lucky me, eh?' She laughed and the Doctor opened the door, opening it for her and stepping back to allow her through.

'Merry Christmas,' He murmured as she stepped through, gasping as her foot hit the soft snow on the ground before her. In front of them lay a winter wonderland, a night-time scene of beauty, rolling hills glistening with snow and large woods, every single surface covered with the frozen snow that seemed to glisten and sparkle with the light of the pale moonlight above them.

'I've never seen real snow before,' She said quietly as the Doctor moved to join where she was standing, awe-struck. 'I mean, of course I saw it in pictures back on Sto, and then there was the snow on Earth, but this… this is beautiful.' She smiled weakly at the Doctor beside her and he smiled back. 'It's absolutely freezing though, isn't it?' She shivered suddenly and the Doctor reacted quickly, taking off his tuxedo jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. She smiled appreciatively up at him, clutching the jacket tightly with both hands. 'Aren't you cold?' She asked him after a moment, and he stared down at her.

'Nah, I'm fine,' He replied breezily, before starting to walk down the hill the TARDIS was parked on. Astrid blinked after him before quickly hurrying to catch up with his long strides.

'So where are we going?' She asked as they crunched through the perfect night and the Doctor shrugged, hands deep in his trouser pockets.

'Only been here once before,' He replied, and Astrid stared at him.

'What if there's something… dangerous here?' She whispered and the Doctor grinned at her.

'That's all part of the adventure,' He replied, and Astrid raised her eyebrows at him.

'Right,' She muttered, before finding herself having to speed up to catch up with him once more.

'So, tell me all about Christmas,' She asked him as they continued through some woods, ducking to avoid a rather heavily-snow covered branch.

'Christmas…' The Doctor sighed. 'Where does one begin, really? There's a lot to tell,' He said, but Astrid was unperturbed.

'So start at the beginning,' She said firmly, but just as the Doctor was about to reply, they came over the crest of the snow-covered hill and saw in front of them… a seemingly abandoned house, half-buried in snow, and both stopped, Astrid pausing the wipe some snow off the top of her boots.

'Fantastic!' The Doctor beamed, but Astrid looked a bit hesitant.

'This whole place is beautiful, Doctor, but there's something I don't like about that place down there,' She said uneasily, and the Doctor gave her an odd look.

'Oh come on, it's perfectly safe! Trust me.' He said firmly, offering a hand to Astrid, and she smiled and was about to accept it, when something came out of the darkness behind them and grabbed her, wrapping it's black arms around her waist and dragging her away. Astrid let out a scream of distress, but it was quickly muffled as a dark hand clamped over her mouth. The Doctor immediately turned to go after the thing as it dragged her off into the dark depths of the forest, shouting her name, but something collided with the back of his head and everything went dark as he fell forward into the soft snow, its coldness the last thing he felt as unconsciousness fell over him like a wet, dark blanket.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER ONE

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or any associated characters, I just love them to death.

Summary: This is set just after VOD, but ASTRID HASNT DIED! Just after Mr Copper runs off. Eventual Doctor/Astrid. What would have happened if Astrid had joined?

--

The Doctor groaned and sat up from where he was lying in the snow, irritatedly spitting out small lumps of snow from his mouth and quickly wiping down his face and the front of his body. He winced when suddenly he was reminded of the pain in the back of his head, but when he put his hand out to gingerly touch it there was no blood.

Then he suddenly remembered. Astrid. He looked around frantically, but obviously her captors were long gone, as the only things beside him were the frenzied signs of a struggle in the deep snow and his black tuxedo coat, now soaked from being thrown to the snowy ground. The Doctor quickly got up and grabbed his coat, grimaced at the wet item and threw it over his shoulder, before quickly surveying his surroundings. Now that she had mentioned it, the Doctor had to admit the small building down in the small valley below him did look… ominous, just as Astrid had pointed out. But now, his intelligent eyes noticed, there was something different about it. He quickly one-handedly pulled out his glasses and shoved them onto his face, staring out into the cold, dark night. Yes, he was right- some of the snow had roughly been cleared to reveal a door. The Doctor sighed and removed his glasses. If he had any hope of finding Astrid again, it looked like that was it. Looking around the dark woods once more, he set off down the hill, towards the small dwelling and towards where he hoped Astrid had been taken.

What he did not see, however, was the sinister pair of eyes watching him go, a few metres behind him, in the trees. The eyes narrowed and, as the Doctor reached the bottom of the hill, a dark figure started to follow him silently through the snow.

The Doctor reached the small house and quickly surveyed and, on finding seemingly no one guarding it, gingerly pushed open the door.

'Anyone home?' He called out in a loud voice as he entered, but got no reply other than some kind of frantic shuffling. 'Astrid? Odd… man-like thing? Creepy outer-space monster? Anyone' He asked, quickly shrugging on his wet jacket before searching the walls with his hands for a light switch. He soon found some kind of old earth-like switch, but, on testing, he soon found out it was not in working order, so he swiftly whipped out his sonic screwdriver, and, after a few buzzes of the glowing tube, managed to work the switch.

His eyes quickly searched the dirty and newly-illuminated room and found it to be empty other than a few boxes made of some curious metal-like material, some blocks of ice and snow… and Astrid, tied up in one corner with a gag in her mouth, her usually bright blonde hair dirtied with mud and snow. She was staring at him pleadingly from where she lay slumped against a wall, and the Doctor quickly ran over to kneel in front of her, hastily untying the knots that bonded her arms and legs.

Astrid stretched weakly once released from her ties and the Doctor frowned when he saw her wrists were covered in deep, sore burn marks from the rough rope.

'Did you miss me?' He smiled cheekily at her as she reached behind her head to undo the piece of material tied around her face as a gag, and she glared at him. 'Ow! Hey! That hurt!' He protested as her palm connected with his cheek and he quickly put up a hand to rub the sore mark she left. 'What was that for?' He asked and she folded her arms angrily at him.

'That was for leaving me to be dragged off and knocked out by some psychos on my first trip!' She said angrily, her pretty face curled into a frown.

'It wasn't my fault, I got knocked out, didn't I!' He retorted and Astrid's face softened.

'Oh. Sorry then,' She apologised and the Doctor grinned at her.

'Don't worry,' He said, standing up and offering a hand down to her which she gladly took and he pulled her up. But just as they were turning to leave, three black-clad figures burst through the door brandishing futuristic-looking guns at them.

'Ah. I was wondering when these guys would show up again,' He murmured, letting go of Astrid's hand to raise his hands above his head, and she stared worriedly at him before doing the same.

'Who are you? What are you doing on this sacred land of Cleeophlen?' One of the men hissed at them, and Astrid flinched slightly.

'We are only travelling through, we mean you and your sacred land no harm,' The Doctor replied loudly, but the men just glared at them harder through their black balaclava-like helmets.

'Liar!' Another man hissed back, jabbing his gun threateningly in the Doctor and Astrid's direction. 'You are on the side of the evil Jab-carrar, you are spies intending to steal our plans and return them to Jab-carrar!'

'No, we're not,' Astrid said firmly. 'We're just travellers, like the Doctor here said, and we don't know anything about your plans or who this evil Jab-carrar is,' She said, her voice wavering only slightly, and the Doctor glanced down at her with something that resembled pride.

The three men seemed to consider this for a minute before the first who had spoken addressed them.

'Then by the royal treaty 48 of the Jav-Torossa war settlement, I arrest you two as prisoners of war. You will be escorted back to main base and-' The man said sternly, but the Doctor, who had seemed to be considering this for a moment, interrupted.

'Ah, no, but!' He said loudly, before delving into his pockets with one hand, the other still raised in some kind of act of surrender. 'I have authorisation from the government of Galactic Inspection that I am a board member, and I am simply passing by this planet to… inspect the situation, and if you take me under arrest I will have to send for back-up and you lot'll be nicked!' He said, triumphantly brandishing his psychic paper at them, and the three men looked defeated as they squinted at the small square of actually blank paper.

'Then we will escort back to the means with which you arrived,' One said gruffly, and the Doctor grinned in success. Astrid sighed shakily with relief as she lowered her hands, sliding one of hers into the Doctor's, grinning up at him as the five walked out of the small house.

'That was one impressive cover story,' She murmured to him as they exited, and the Doctor stared down at her.

'No, really, I am a member of the government of Galactic Inspection!' He insisted and Astrid raised her eyebrows at him. 'Just… not exactly telling the truth about the whole back-up thing. Haven't visited them in, ooh, 200 years? Just as well they bought it, eh?' He grinned a dazzling grin down at her and Astrid grinned back, laughing slightly at the Doctor's gratification to some obscure government.

'Thank you for that, I'm sure the government will be impressed with my report of this planet… um…' The Doctor said authoritively once they reached the TARDIS and Astrid smiled slightly as the Doctor struggled to remember the name of the place they were.

'Cleeophlen?' She suggested softly to him and he grinned down at her.

'Cleeophlen. That's the one,' He told the men who nodded and turned to hurry back into the snow, quickly disappearing off.

Astrid and the Doctor stood outside the TARDIS for a few minutes, staring out at the still dark landscape in front of them. It started to snow again and Astrid laughed slightly into the dark sky.

'After all that's happened, I don't ever think I'll be able to appreciate the snow in the same way ever again,' She sighed, and the Doctor smiled slightly.

'Don't let these things influence you,' He said, turning to face the TARDIS, but he paused, holding his key out, and turned back to Astrid. 'Look, I'm sorry that…' He paused and sighed, and Astrid stared at him patiently. 'I'm sorry your first trip into time and space ended in you being kidnapped, knocked out and drenched in snow,' He said, his expression sincere. 'Yeah, by the way, you may want to change,' He pointed out, turning once more to the TARDIS door and fitting the key in the lock.

Astrid looked down at herself, before frowning at the Doctor. 'But I don't have any other clothes,' She told him, but the Doctor didn't seem too bothered.

'There's an onboard wardrobe,' He said as he stepped into the TARDIS, before pausing for thought. 'Somewhere,' He added, but Astrid just shrugged.

'Don't worry about it. It's all part of the adventure, Doctor, isn't it?' She grinned, following him into the TARDIS and he smirked back at her as he continued into the time machine. He quickly leapt over to the control panel and began to fix coordinates, turning dials and twisting knobs, occasionally hitting part of it with a small, convenient mallet.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER ONE

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or any associated characters, I just love them to death.

Summary: This is set just after VOD, but ASTRID HASNT DIED! Just after Mr Copper runs off. Eventual Doctor/Astrid. What would have happened if Astrid had joined?

Sorry this chapter is kinda short, and sorry it took a while to update, but I promise to update as soon as I can.

Thank you so much tiamat100 for your lovely review!! :D

--

Astrid watched the Doctor work fascination, slowly making her way over to the seat. She sat down as he finished, pulling the final lever and setting the TARDIS in motion. He then slumped down next to her on the seat, grinning, but she didn't smile back, just frowned down at her hands.

'You OK?' He asked, his expression switching to one of concern.

'Yeah, it's just…' She raised her arms slightly, frowning at her wrists. 'My wrists really hurt,' She said vaguely and the Doctor reached over to take her wrists in his hands, frowning slightly. His switched his gaze from her face to her wrists as he lightly ran his thumb over one of the red marks on her wrist and she flinched slightly, screwing up her face in pain.

'Astrid?' He asked softly, and she blinked, as if trying hard to focus on something.

'Those ropes, they weren't… weren't ordinary,' She said drowsily, her eyelids starting to droop. 'I think they were kind of…' She stopped.

'Kind of?' The Doctor prompted her and she swayed slightly.

'Kind of…' She slurred, before falling forward into the Doctor's arms, unconscious.

The Doctor stared down, surprised, at the small, blonde, unconscious woman in his arms, having collapsed from where she sat next to him. He paused for a second, considering what to do next, but his eyes widened when he realised the quickest way to bring her back round- one of the more questionable abilities of the Time Lords.

'A very old tradition,' He murmured, partially to himself, as he gently turned her over in his arms so she was facing up at him.

He sighed uneasily and paused for a moment before leaning down to press his lips against hers, hoping that the special make-up of a Time Lord would be enough to wake her up and save her from potential disaster. After a few seconds however, Astrid was still unresponsive, her body remaining limp in his arms, but the Doctor persevered, continuing to kiss her, and after another few seconds Astrid suddenly gasped against him and the Doctor pulled away, quickly, holding her steady as she panted for breath, looking around with a dazed expression on her face.

'Woah,' She sighed after a moment, staring up at the Doctor.

'Um, yeah, sorry about that,' He said, looking slightly embarrassed. 'Only way to bring you back,'

Astrid smiled gratefully at him before quickly sitting up, smoothing down her waitressing dress. The two sat in silence, trying to look anywhere but each other, until the moment passed and the Doctor spoke again.

'We should probably check out those marks. If they've already knocked you out, I hate to think what it's doing to the rest of your body,' He commented and Astrid blushed slightly, but the Doctor didn't seem to notice. 'Medical bay's this way,' He said, getting up and making his way over to the doorway that lead to the rest of the TARDIS.

Astrid stared after him in amazement. 'There's more?' She asked in astonishment and the Doctor turned back to grin at her.

'Where d'you think I keep all the stethoscopes?' He said and Astrid laughed before running to join him as he continued on his way off into the TARDIS.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER ONE

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or any associated characters, I just love them to death.

Summary: This is set just after VOD, but ASTRID HASNT DIED! Just after Mr Copper runs off. Eventual Doctor/Astrid. What would have happened if Astrid had joined?

A/N: Sorry I took so long to update, but, well, exams!

Thank you so much tiamat100 for your lovely review!! :D And thanks for everyone for reading!!

--

'What did you need to kiss me for, anyway?' Astrid asked as the Doctor strode through the TARDIS, having to run slightly to keep up with him.

'It's… an old trick of the Time Lords. Kind of complicated to explain. But it was the quickest thing to bring you back, I wasn't going to take any chances in case you had fallen into a coma or something worse, I didn't even know what was wrong with you. I had to make a decision.' He said, not taking his eyes off directly in front of him.

Astrid slid her hand into his. 'Thank you,' She said to him, and he looked down to smile back at her.

'You're extremely welcome,' He replied softly, before abruptly stopping outside an old-looking wooden door. 'Medical bay,' He told her, opening the door to allow her through before quickly following her himself.

Astrid uneasily sat on the large, white bed on the medical bay and looked around the room as the Doctor fiddled around her, taking readings on strange machines she did not know the purpose of. The harshness of this stark, white, clean room was very much in contrast with the soft, coral-like control room of the TARDIS, and Astrid was finding it hard adjusting to this new environment, but the Doctor was gentle with her and so she tried to relax.

'What's up, doc?' She asked softly after a moment, and the Doctor looked up from some odd machine to grin at her, but the worried expression set on her pale face made him quickly slip back into a serious mood.

'Well, nothing wrong so far, just gotta get this little baby working, it's not really wanting to cooperate,' He frowned down at the little machine, before fumbling in his jacket to pull out his sonic screwdriver. A small, sharp buzz was emitted from the long tube as he jabbed it at the reader, and after a few more prods at it, the Doctor let out a triumphant 'Ah ha! Oh. Not ah ha. Not good at all.' His expression of triumph turned to a frown as he stared down at the readings the weird machine was now bleeping at him. 'Oh dear. I'm sorry, Astrid,' He continued quietly and Astrid stared at him in distress.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER ONE

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or any associated characters, I just love them to death.

Summary: This is set just after VOD, but ASTRID HASNT DIED! Just after Mr Copper runs off. Eventual Doctor/Astrid. What would have happened if Astrid had joined?

A/N: SO SORRY I've taken so long to update, I just had a bit of a writer's block, and then I really haven't found the time… anyway. Thank you once more EVERYONE for your lovely reviews, they really helped when trying to get over my writer's block!! Especially thank you tiamat100, your continuous, lovely reviews make my day 

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'What? Give me that!' She quickly snatched the small machine from his hands and stared at it in frustration. 'I can't understand it. What does it say? What's wrong?' She asked him, her blue eyes piercing through him and he dropped her gaze. 'Doctor. Please, just tell me.' She said more softly, and the Doctor looked up to meet her eyes, his expression grave.

'Poison,' He murmured quietly and Astrid's eyes grew wide with fear.

'Wh-what?' She mumbled and the Doctor looked away again.

'I'm sorry, Astrid, I'm so sorry…' He said but Astrid just shook her head in disbelief, not wanting to hear him, hear what he was saying. 'Astrid. Listen to me. I can do this, I can save you. Look at me.' Astrid had dropped her head throughout the time the Doctor had been speaking, but now her gaze snapped back to his, crystal blue eyes swimming with tears and blinking furiously at her. 'I promise,' He said in that way that was oh-so-Doctorish, his voice quiet and low, his dark eyes full of wisdom.

Astrid was still now, completely silent, a single tear rolling down her china-doll skin, so fragile. The Doctor swallowed, before pulling her into a hug, not saying anything anymore, hoping his actions could comfort her more than his words.

'Doctor, are you sure this is going to work?'

Astrid's voice was as worried as her crystal eyes showed, her soft, lilting accent wobbling now as she sat very, very still on the medical bay bed, the Doctor once again dashing around, trying to find odd-looking implements that she had to admit scared her more than just a little bit.

'Of course it will,' He told her, his words muffled greatly by the piece of strange equipment he was holding in his mouth as he masterfully fiddled with some small machine in his hands, before removing the odd tube from his mouth to grin a dazzling grin at her, a grin that, at any other time, would make her smile from ear to ear back. But right now, she couldn't bring herself to smile back.

The Doctor's smile faded and he paused for a moment in his tinkering, placing the objects to hand on one end of the long, white bed and moved closer to her.

'Astrid, are you OK?' He asked cautiously after a few moments of sharp silence, before simply nodding to himself, turning away meekly. 'Right. Yeah. OK.'

On hearing this, Astrid suddenly jerked her head round slightly to face him. 'What? What is that supposed to mean?' She asked, her voice squeaking ever so slightly as her fear and anguish got the better of her.

'No, no no, Astrid,' The Doctor immediately turned back to her, grabbing her small hands in his and holding them tight. 'Look… I know you're scared. I understand. It's fine, you have every right to be scared, just…' The Doctor paused for a moment, trying to find the right words. 'You will be OK, alright?' His dark eyes met hers again, and she nodded, taking a deep breath in and letting it out slowly. She remained still, though, as the Doctor resumed his tinkering around her, until finally he stopped in his motions and moved to stand in front of her. There was a careful look in his eyes, and when he spoke his voice was filled with concern.

'Astrid. Everything's ready.' He said, slowly, yet not too slowly for her to feel patronised- that was not what she needed at the moment, he could practically sense her distress in the sterile air around them.

'OK then.' She said. 'What-what are you doing, anyway?' Her small voice was wracked with nerves.

'This,' He said, holding up a large, syringe-like object. 'It's just a treatment. Sorry it took so long to put together, I mean, I don't know what poison that is- and, yes that is saying something- but it's a hard one to find any sort of cure for.' His smile of self-amusement quickly disappeared, however, when he saw that Astrid wasn't exactly finding his comments helpful. 'OK. Sorry. I'll shut up now.' He said, voice low, and Astrid finally smiled slightly.

'Thanks,' She said weakly, and the Doctor smirked too as he turned away to grab something from behind him, yet another implement Astrid could not name, but the soft thud of a body hitting something hard made him immediately spin around, eyes wide with surprise, to see that Astrid had collapsed back onto the bed, unconscious.

Bugger, he thought to himself.


End file.
